Windows vs Linux: What’s the best operating system?

One is the ubiquitous, ever present juggernaut on the market and the other is far more customizable, arguably more functional, but definitely more intimidating for some.

Windows and Linux have long been considered two of the world’s best operating systems, but they serve different markets.

Windows was first revealed in 1985 and released as Windows 1.0. New versions have been rolled out every few years adding vast amounts of features to address modern computing. Windows is the most prevalent OS in the world, its the OS that most of us learned how to use a computer and its the OS that is loaded on almost every computer that doesn’t brandish a piece of fruit on it.

Linux was launched in 1991 and was created by Finnish student Linus Torvalds, who wanted to create a free operating system that anyone could use.

Whereas almost every “off the shelf” software application includes a Windows version, this is not the case with Linux. The Linux Kernel underpins all Linux operating systems however, as it remains open source, the system can be tweaked or modified by anyone for their own purpose. Because of this open source architecture, the many modifications known as distributions or “distros” can bring the benefit of having a variant of the Linux distro for almost every operator’s specific needs.

For most users the familiarity and convenience of the Windows operating system in addition to the limitless applications that run on it make it a popular business choice.

For Linux users there are free open source applications that can run Windows software, but these are often amateur efforts compared to Windows.

In general Windows has a big advantage over Linux which is that in the software stakes, virtually every program is designed from the ground up with Windows support in mind. Linux users often embrace one or more distros for specific purposes and applications that they may or may not be creating on their own.